02:26 PM EST on Sunday, February 27, 2005

Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. — Citing "new information," a federal agency is reopening its investigation into the 2003 death of an airline employee who was crushed against the nose of a DC-9 at Norfolk International Airport.

Denise Bogucki, a 13-year veteran of Northwest Airlines, died in September 2003. Her union has maintained inadequate staffing contributed to her death.

The National Transportation Safety Board initially concluded Bogucki was to blame for her own death. But the board said on its Web page that the "investigation is currently being reevaluated due to new information." Board officials declined to comment further.

Union officials said the board's initial findings were based on "huge inaccuracies."

The original investigation found that Bogucki, who was 43, made a "decision to use improper equipment" to push back an airplane from a gate, causing the accident that pinned her against a plane. Bogucki was driving a small tractor called a pushback tug when she was killed.

The report states that she used a tow bar that was too short for the tug she was driving.

But the union contends that she was using the only equipment Northwest provided to do the job.

"You don't put out false facts on an accident," said Bob Bennek, safety and health director of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Air Transport District 143, which includes Norfolk.

Jeanne Earley, Bogucki's mother, told The Virginian-Pilot the report portrayed her daughter "like she was some dumb thing who didn't know what she was doing."

Before she died, Northwest workers had complained that staffing cutbacks were jeopardizing safety. Staffing was not mentioned in the federal report.

Shortly after the accident, Northwest began requiring two people for pushbacks. The airline also replaced the open-cab tug used in the accident with a closed-cab one.

Still, the union contends, conditions at Northwest's Norfolk operation have not improved significantly. The station is still understaffed, officials said, and despite having a new tug, the tow bars are still the same length.

The union said that the airline has begun installing protective roll bars on all of its tugs nationwide.

"I'd say that's the single biggest thing that could have prevented her death," Bennek said.

Northwest will not comment on the accident or the board's report. The airline is contesting a Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration ruling that fined Northwest $6,300 for a "serious" violation of workplace safety laws. The maximum penalty for that violation is $7,000.

State safety officials wrote that Northwest failed to provide a work environment that was "free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm." They also stated that employees "were exposed to crushing hazards while conducting aircraft pushback operations."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

APTV-02-27-05 1402EST